I'm an Australian who lived in the US for 2 years and i think that it's a progressive and interesting place, but that the older generation are still set in their old ways to a degree. America's a bit strict, but definitely moving in the right direction.

Exactly. With the point of differences within states it has gotten to points where parts want to break away from the rest, an example being northern Colorado having a vote on if they should leave Colorado and become a new state in 2013.